Remembering World War Two Veterans From Northeastern Wisconsin Who Served in the Philippines (Pt. II)

By: Bob Boyer

 

Because of the amount of information available this year, I have the luxury of two successive issues to cover all of the Northeastern Wisconsin Veterans who served in the Philippines in World War II. This month is Part II.

Wesley Borchert (May 10 age 91) “served in the US Coast Guard from June 17, 1943 to February 1, 1964 . . . . He served on the USS Muskogee PF-49 in the North and South Pacific” and “was honorably discharged as a Seaman First Class.” It’s notable that the Navy staffed the PF class ships with Coast Guardsmen from 1944 until the end of the war on August 14, 1945. They served basically like Destroyers. Just weeks before the end of the war, the Muskogee was transferred to a Soviet Union crew, then back to the U.S., and later to a South Korean crew. Meanwhile Wesley had returned home to the Town of Little River, where he farmed and drove a bus and also worked for Bond Pickle Co.

Raymond J. “Ray” Derricks (May 14 age 93) “proudly served” in the Navy from January of 1945 to July of 1946. He saw duty “in the Pacific as a cook, and later as an MP in the Philippines.” The MP duty would have been mostly during the continued presence of the U.S. Navy in the Philippines after the war. Ray worked in a paper mill (Green Bay Packaging) for 42 years until retirement, but he found time for family fun, card playing and dancing. He was a member of the Polish Legion of American Veterans.

John G. Wagner (May 28 age 93) served in the U.S. Army in the storied 158th Bushmasters Company. The Bushmasters got their name from their jungle fighting in Panama and proudly adopted the name of the venomous green viper. They were thus historically prepared for duty in the Philippines jungles. Originally formed in Arizona, they still had full Companies of Native Americans. The Bushmasters won numerous medals and received highest praises from General MacArthur. Interestingly, many years later, back in Wisconsin, John was a member of the “Nicolet Swamp Hunters,” a deer-hunting group.

David F. Trousil (June 28 age 91) served in the Army in the Philippines, 1945-1946. Given the “last ones in, last ones out policy,” he probably arrived late into the war and continued there into the post-war period. He’s a classic Wisconsin veteran, loved hunting and fishing and had a large family, including five children, “nine grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren . . . and many nieces and nephews.”

Felix Louis Destache (July 12 age 93) enlisted in the Army and served in the South Pacific throughout the fighting in New Guinea to the Philippines and, most likely, the islands in between. He was wounded in New Guinea in the early going and was awarded the Purple Heart. After recuperating in a New Zealand hospital he returned to active duty in the Philippines and, presumably during the occupation, in Japan. Returning to Green Bay, he worked for 43 years in the paper mill that ultimately became Georgia Pacific. And he has a large family remaining.

It is important that we in Wisconsin remember the state’s close connection to the Philippines through its veterans, those who returned, like the above, and those who did not return. I guarantee that the Filipinos remember gratefully.

Contact Bob Boyer at Robert.boyer@snc.edu and <sundaysinmanila.com>.